NEED DISCUSSION IN 10 HOURS or LESS

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PLEASE POST EACH DISCUSSION SEPARATELY

Discussion Response 1

Respond to the Classmate’s Discussion (below) as you would in a face-to face class by stating why you agree, asking questions, and stating your point of view. (Parf)

Privacy, confidentiality, and privilege are terms used in psychology and the law which privacy refers to the constitutional rights of individuals, outlined in the federal and state constitutions. Which is against unnecessary intrusion and the rights of individuals to control disclosure of personal matters. Confidentiality refers to a professional’s promise (based upon professional ethics) to reveal nothing about a patient without his or her consent. Privileged communication is usually conferred by state statute. Privilege refers to the legal right that exempts patients from having their confidential disclosures revealed by their therapists in legal proceedings. Privilege is determined by state law. Where one state may extend privilege in both civil and criminal hearings, another state may extend privilege to civil proceedings only. For instance, privilege is usually denied in cases of murder. There is usually a difference according to professions of clergy, psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers. Psychologists do not hold privilege. Patients hold privilege.

Patients’ beliefs about confidentiality play an important role in establishing and maintaining a therapeutic relationship, granting informed consent, and bringing possible breach of confidentiality lawsuits. Research suggests that patients expect their communications to remain secret unless they are told otherwise or unless the patient gives permission for information to be shared. Blocking the patient’s expectation can hurt the therapy. Knowing this, some therapists are reluctant to share the limits of confidentiality with their patients. The American Psychological Association is very clear, however, that psychologists must discuss limitations of confidentiality with persons or organizations with whom a scientific or professional relationship is established.

Psychologists are considered mandated reporters. That means when a psychologist becomes aware that a patient’s behavior or even intended behavior may be dangerous to the patient or to others, the psychologist is required to report it to the appropriate authorities. This includes drunk driving, indiscriminate spread of sexually transmitted disease, physical and/or sexual abuse, and suicidal or homicidal behavior. Future research should look into ways to uphold confidentiality practice amongst counselors from the perspectives of clients, teachers and the public as their views can form effective guidelines and procedures to confidentiality practice in Malaysia, Bokhari, (2014). However, according to other studies, most patients and physicians are concerned

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about the privacy and security of medical data in the context of these systems Kimiafar, (2022). In reality, the difference between confidentiality and privilege poses many problems. How psychologists view the therapeutic setting and how the public views the business of therapy is very different.

REFERENCES: Kimiafar, Khalil, (2022). Privacy, and Confidentiality in Electronic Prescribing Systems: A

Review Study; Frontiers in Health Informatics, Vol 11, Iss 1 (2022) Bokhari, M., Saadan, R., Pilus, A. M., Hassan, S. N. S., Jano, Z., Ishak, N. M., & Mahmud, Z.

(2014, July 24). Contribution of Awareness and Understanding in Legal and Ethics towards the Practice of Confidentiality amongst Counselors [PDF file]. Asian Social Science, 10(16), 144-151. https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v10n16p1,44Links to an external site.

Discussion Response 2

Respond to the Classmate’s Discussion (below) as you would in a face-to face class by stating why you agree, asking questions, and stating your point of view. (Kay)

Week 3 Discussion-Confidentiality

Confidentiality covers the bases of ethical morals and includes professional guidelines for what information is to remain private. Privacy covers ethics, as well as legal entities. Privacy includes HIPPA and other similar laws to protect individuals from information being given out that is not in the best interest of the client or patient. Privileged information contains aspects of the client’s treatment that no one would otherwise know if not for the specific job requirements and position of responsibility.

The duty to warn includes information that could potentially be hazardous to the client. The duty to protect includes information that is detrimental to the patient’s well-being. When it comes to the duty to protect, this means that a patient discloses information that they are in danger of harming themselves or someone else’s life. This type of information must be reported immediately in all practices due to the harmful nature of the information.

If I were talking to a co-worker and they told me about what one of their client’s family members had done outside the realm of treatment for that particular client, I would politely advise that I did not need to know that information. Any information shared with me regarding a client’s family member would be a breach of privacy laws. Not only privacy laws, but if the client got word of their case worker freely giving out information they provided, this compromises the confidentiality agreement of their relationship. This

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is why all documents that are signed prior to treatment are essential to ensure that all parties involved receive the best and most ethical care possible.

Note that the legal, ethical, clinical and risk management bins bring us full circle in reading the statute. Ethical standard 4.05 allows for a psychologist to disclose confidential information when he or she is legally mandated to warn or protect a third party. The legal duty is based upon a clinical assessment; a clinical assessment may also exempt a psychologist from the legal duty. Finally, in the risk management bin, when the psychologist takes appropriate action in accordance with the statute to fulfill the legal duty, the psychologist will not be exposed to liability for a disclosure of confidential information. (Bokhari, 2014)

References

American Psychological Association, https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/04/disclosing- informationLinks to an external site.Links to an external site..

Bokhari, M., Saadan, R., Pilus, A. M., Hassan, S. N. S., Jano, Z., Ishak, N. M., & Mahmud, Z. (2014, July 24). Contribution of Awareness and Understanding in Legal and Ethics towards the Practice of Confidentiality amongst Counselors [PDF file]. Asian Social Science, 10(16), 144-151. https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v10n16p1,44Links to an external site.

Discussion Response 3

Respond to the Classmate’s Discussion (below) as you would in a face-to face class by stating why you agree, asking questions, and stating your point of view. (Kel)

According to the National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine (2008), the definition of confidentiality is “the principle of keeping secure and secret from others, information given by or about an individual in the course of a professional relationship” (para. 1). In a professional field which handles so much sensitive information, confidentiality is a key factor in gaining and maintaining a client’s trust. Everyone is entitled to a sense of dignity when being treated in any medical or human service setting. Privacy entails the right to have your personal information kept as just that, private. The International Association of Privacy Professionals (2023) utilized the definition in the case of data privacy in which it is the focus of use and governance of personal data (para. 6). In these modern times, there are many different tools, laws, and programs designed to protect personal data. Just the same as technology has advanced for protection, so has the skills and technology of those who mean to acquire it illegally and unethically. Privileged communication refers to the communication that is allowed to take place between the professional and client about treatment plans, cases, or any other ongoing service information. “Psychologists have a primary obligation and take reasonable precautions to protect confidential information obtained through or stored in

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any medium, recognizing that the extent and limits of confidentiality may be regulated by law or established by institutional rules or professional or scientific relationship” (APA, 2017).

The duty to warn and the duty to protect are concepts I am familiar with due to having many immediate family members who are a part of the public education system. By law and policy, they are considered mandated reporters when there are instances of immediate danger to the student. This would be where a duty to warn takes precedence. For example, “administrators, teachers and school counselors have a legal obligation to take action when students show signs of threatening or posing a danger to other students” (Bokhari et al., 2014, p. 145). Although this does demonstrate both a duty to warn and protect, often an individual may feel their confidentiality is breached due to that information being required to be reported. If a client is a danger to himself or others by disclosing suicidal ideation, it may be in the best interest of said client for you to report this information to the property authority. The duty to warn against potential danger far exceeds the duty to protect privacy in this case. I do believe the most important aspect of confidentiality is the development of trust from the client to assist with their needs as much as possible, but I also feel that a huge part of that is protecting the well-being of the entire community as well. Either way, most people must feel a sense of trust for them to be vulnerable enough to allow you to treat or service them. In my current profession, customer privacy and confidentiality are a big part of our everyday policies and any breach of that can lead to sizable ramifications, but it can also lead to loss of customer base as well.

References

American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical Principals of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. https://www.apa.org/ethics/codeLinks to an external site.

National Institutes of Health. (2008). Confidentiality. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2323098/Links to an external site.

International Association of Privacy Professionals. (2023). What does privacy mean? Retrieved from https://iapp.org/about/what-is-privacy/Links to an external site.

Bokhari, M., Saadan, R., Pilus, A. M., Hassan, S. N. S., Jano, Z., Ishak, N. M., & Mahmud, Z. (2014, July 24). Contribution of awareness and understanding in legal and ethics towards the practice of confidentiality amongst counselors [PDF file]. Asian Social Science, 10(16), 144-151. https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v10n16p144